Core circuitry, test access mechanism, scan frame input register, decompressor

ABSTRACT

Testing of an electrical device is achieved by providing a test access mechanism within the device that can receive scan frames from an external tester. The received scan frames contain stimulus data to be applied to circuitry within the device to be tested, a command for enabling a test control operation, and a frame marker bit to indicate the end of the scan frame pattern. The inputting of scan frames can occur continuously and simultaneous with a commanded test control operation.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of prior application Ser. No.13/693,709, filed Dec. 4, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,799,712, issued Aug.5, 2014;

Which was a divisional of prior application Ser. No. 13/157,927, filedJun. 10, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,352,792, granted Jan. 8, 2013;

Which is a divisional of prior application Ser. No. 12/638,498, filedDec. 15, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,984,331, granted Jul. 19, 2011;

Which is a divisional of prior application Ser. No. 11/694,115, filedMar. 30, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,657,790, granted Feb. 2, 2010;

Which claims priority from Provisional Application No. 60/744,312, filedApr. 5, 2006.

The following documents and paper reference include subject matter whichis related to the subject matter of this application. The documents havebeen assigned to the assignee of this application, and are incorporatedherein by reference.

application Ser. No. 09/257,760, filed Feb. 25, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No.6,405,335, granted Jun. 11, 2002;

application Ser. No. 11/370,017, filed Mar. 7, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No.7,421,633, granted Sep. 2, 2008;

application Ser. No. 11/565,979, filed Dec. 1, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No.7,417,450, granted Aug. 28, 2008;

application Ser. No. 11/670,241, filed Feb. 1, 2007, now pending;

Test Data Compression and Compaction for Embedded Test of NanometerTechnology Designs, Proceedings of 21^(st) IEEE International Conferenceon Computer Design 2003.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to testing of electricalcircuits and, more particularly, to testing of electrical circuits usingscan framing circuits and techniques which allow circuits to be testedin a more efficient manner than achieved using conventional testapproaches.

2. Description of Related Art

FIG. 1A illustrates a prior art device 100 having a core 102 withparallel scan paths 104. The core is tested by an external testerinputting stimulus to the scan path inputs, receiving response from thescan paths outputs, and inputting test control to operate the scanpaths. This type of testing is well known.

FIG. 1B illustrates a prior art device 106 having a core 108 withparallel scan paths 110. The stimulus inputs to the scan paths come froma parallel scan distributor (PSC) 112 and the response outputs from thescan paths are input to a parallel scan collector (PSC) 114. The core istested by an external tester serially inputting stimulus to the PSD viaa scan input, serially outputting response from the PSC via a scanoutput, and inputting test control to operate the PSD, PSC and scanpaths. This type of serial to parallel and parallel to serial scantesting was described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,335 (Position IndependentTesting of Circuits), which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 1C illustrates a prior art device 116 having a core 118 withparallel scan paths 120. The stimulus inputs to the scan paths come froma decompressor (DEC) circuit 122 and the response outputs from the scanpaths are input to a compressor (COM) 124, sometimes referred to as amultiple input shift register (MISR) or compactor. The core is tested byan external tester serially inputting compressed stimulus patterns tothe DEC via one or more scan inputs, decompressing the stimulus patternsand inputting them to the scan paths, while simultaneously compressingthe response outputs from the scan paths in the COM and outputting thecompressed response patterns from the COM via one or more scan outputs.The tester inputs control to operate the DEC, COM, and scan paths duringtest. This type of response compression and stimulus decompressiontesting is well known as indicated by a paper referenced in theReference to Related Art section.

FIG. 1D illustrates a prior art device 126 having a core 128 withparallel scan paths 130. The stimulus inputs to the scan paths come froma stimulus pattern generator (GEN) circuit 132 and the response outputsfrom the scan paths are input to a response pattern compressor (COM)circuit 134. The core is tested by an external tester inputting controlto operate the GEN, COM, and scan paths during test. This type oftesting is referred to a built in self test (BIST), which is very wellknown.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention describes test access mechanisms (TAM) circuitsthat can be used to improve the scan testing of cores. The TAMs arebased on a new method of inputting and outputting scan test data to andfrom core scan paths using a scan framing technique.

DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEWS OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1A illustrates testing of a core using parallel scan testing.

FIG. 1B illustrates scan testing of a core using Parallel ScanDistributor (PSD) and Parallel Scan Collector (PSC) circuits.

FIG. 1C illustrates scan testing of a core using Decompressor andCompressor circuits.

FIG. 1D illustrates scan testing of a core using Built-In Self testcircuits.

FIG. 2 illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a core accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a core accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of the controller of the test accessmechanisms of FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates a circuit for synchronizing the starting and stoppingof a controller of a test access mechanism according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 illustrates the operation of the controller of the test accessmechanisms of present invention during a signature read operation.

FIG. 7A illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a core accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 7B illustrates a detail view of the stimulus decompression andresponse compression circuits of FIG. 7A.

FIG. 8A illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a core accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 8B illustrates a detail view of the stimulus decompression, maskdecompression, and response compression circuits of FIG. 8A.

FIG. 8C illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a core accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates the operation of the controller of the test accessmechanisms of FIGS. 7A, 8A, and 8C.

FIG. 10 illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a core accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a core accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates the operation of the controller of the test accessmechanisms of FIGS. 10 and 11.

FIG. 13A illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a coreaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 13B illustrates a detail view of the stimulus decompression,response decompression, and response comparator circuits of FIG. 13A.

FIG. 13C illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a coreaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 14A illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a coreaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 14B illustrates a detail view of the stimulus decompression, maskdecompression, response decompression, and response comparator circuitsof FIG. 14A.

FIG. 14C illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a coreaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 15 illustrates the operation of the controller of the test accessmechanisms of FIGS. 13A, 13C, 14A, and 14C.

FIG. 16 illustrates a single detect fail logger circuit of thecontrollers of the test access mechanisms of FIGS. 13A, 13C, 14A, and14C.

FIG. 17 illustrates the operation of the controller of the test accessmechanisms of present invention during a single fail data readoperation.

FIG. 18 illustrates a multiple detect fail logger circuit of thecontrollers of the test access mechanisms of FIGS. 13A, 13C, 14A, and14C.

FIG. 19 illustrates the operation of the controller of the test accessmechanisms of present invention during a multiple fail data readoperation.

FIG. 20 illustrates a test access mechanism for testing a core accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 21 illustrates the operation of the controller of the test accessmechanisms of FIG. 20.

FIG. 22 illustrates the testing and reading of individual die/ICsaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 23 illustrates the testing and reading of strings of die/ICsaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 24 illustrates a tester connected to a die/IC that includes a TAMPort, a TAM interface, and TAMs according to the present invention.

FIG. 25 illustrates a more detail view of the FIG. 24 TAM interfacebetween the TAM Port and TAMs within a die/IC.

FIG. 26 illustrates individual die/ICs coupled to a tester according tothe present invention.

FIG. 27 illustrates a string of die/ICs coupled to a tester according tothe present invention.

FIG. 28 illustrates a TAP based TAM Port according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 29 illustrates a detail view of the TAM interface between the TAPbased TAM Port of FIG. 28 and TAMs within a die/IC.

FIG. 30 illustrates a circuit for reducing the number of test signalsbetween a tester and a die/IC according to the present invention.

FIG. 31 illustrates the signal reducer circuit of FIG. 30 coupled to aTAP based TAM Port according to the present invention.

FIG. 32 illustrates a detail view of the TAM interface between thesignal reducer and TAP based TAM Port of FIG. 31 and TAMs within adie/IC.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 2 illustrates a Stimulus & Compress TAM 200 that can be coupled toa core within a device, or integrated circuit, to enable testing of thecore according to the present invention. This TAM is for use withCompress-Ready Core Scan Paths 202, i.e. the response from the scanpaths does not contain unknown states. The TAM includes a Scan FrameInput Register (SFIR) 204, a Scan Frame Copy Register (SFCR) 208, a ScanFrame Update Register (SFUR) 206, a Compressor 210, a Controller 212,and multiplexer 214. The SFIR and SFCR both comprise a Stimulus (S)section, a Command (C) section, and a Frame Marker (FM) section. TheSFUR comprises a Stimulus (S) section and a Command (C) section. The TAMhas a TAM Serial Input (TSI), a TAM Serial Output (TSO), a Clock (CLK)input, a Test/Read (T/R) mode input, a TAM Enable (TE) input, aFunctional Clock (FC) input, a Stimulus (S) output bus to the core, aResponse (R) input bus from the core, and a Control (CTL) output bus tothe core. These TAM inputs and outputs form a standardized interface forall TAMs described in this disclosure. The Stimulus (S) bus from theSFUR is input to the core scan paths, the Response (R) bus from the corescan paths is input to the Compressor, and the Control (CTL) bus fromthe Controller provides control for the TAM circuits and core scanpaths. When TE is set high and T/R is set for Test operation, theController is enabled to shift scan frames into the SFIR from TSI andshift scan frames out of the SFCR on TSO, in response to the CLK input.When the FM signal from the SFIR goes high, the Controller transfers thecontents of the S and C sections of the SFIR into the S and C sectionsof the SFUR, the S, C, and FM sections of the SFIR into the S, C, and FMsections of the SFCR, and then clears the SFIR. Clearing the SFIR tologic zeros allows for detecting the FM (a logic one) in the next scanframe input. Following the transfer and clear operation, the Controllerexecutes the Command (C) output from the SFUR. The Controller canexecute the Command timed by either the CLK input or a Functional Clock(FC) input. During the Command execution, the stimulus (S) data from theSFUR is input to the stimulus inputs of the core scan paths while theresponse (R) outputs from the core scan paths are compressed into asignature using the Compressor. While the Command is being executed, thenext scan frame is shifted into the SFIR via TSI and the previous scanframe is shifted out of the SFCR via TSO. This process of shifting in anew scan frame from TSI, shifting out a previous scan frame from TSO,and executing a Command continues until the TE signal goes low to endthe test operation. Following the test operation, the signaturecontained within the Compressor needs to be shifted out for inspection.This is accomplished by setting TE high and setting T/R for Readoperation. During the read operation the Controller causes theCompressor to shift data from TSI to TSO via multiplexer 214 in responseto the CLK input to unload the signature.

The S section of the SFUR 206 can be realized as either a register 218or a FIFO 216. If the S section is a register, only one stimulus patternis loaded into the register from the S section of the SFIR to be inputto the core scan paths, and only one response pattern from the core scanpaths is compressed in the compressor. If the S section is a FIFO anumber of stimulus patterns can be stored in the FIFO from the S sectionof the SFIR to be output to the core scan paths while an equal number ofresponse patterns from the core scan path are compressed in thecompressor. As seen, the register 218 and FIFO 216 both have parallelinputs that are coupled to the S section of the SFIR, parallel outputsthat are coupled to the stimulus inputs of the core scan paths, andcontrol inputs from controller 212. The advantage of using the FIFO isthat, in response to a command, multiple stimulus inputs, buffered up inthe FIFO, can be rapidly input to the core scan paths, while an equalnumber of response outputs from the core scan paths can be rapidlycompressed into the compressor.

FIG. 3 illustrates a Stimulus & Maskable Compress TAM 300 that can becoupled to a core within a device to enable testing of the coreaccording to the present invention. This TAM is for use with Core ScanPaths 302 where the response output contains unknown states that need tobe masked off. The TAM includes a SFIR 304, a SFCR 308, a SFUR 306, aCompressor 310, a Controller 312, and a multiplexer 314. The SFIR andSFCR both comprise a Stimulus (S) section, a Mask (M) section, a Command(C) section, and a Frame Marker (FM) section. The SFUR comprises aStimulus (S) section, a Mask (M) section, and a Command (C) section. TheTAM has the standardized inputs and outputs described in FIG. 2. TheStimulus (S) bus from the SFUR is input to the core scan paths. The Mask(M) bus from the SFUR is input to the Compressor to mask off unknownresponse inputs. The Response (R) bus from the core scan paths is inputto the Compressor. The Control (CTL) bus from the Controller providescontrol for the TAM circuits and core scan paths. When TE is set highand T/R is set for Test operation, the Controller is enabled to shiftscan frames into the SFIR from TSI and shift scan frames out of the SFCRon TSO, in response to the CLK input. When the FM signal from the SFIRgoes high, the Controller transfers the contents of the S, M, and Csections of the SFIR into the S, M, and C sections of the SFUR, the S,M, C, and FM sections of the SFIR into the S, M, C, and FM sections ofthe SFCR, and then clears the SFIR. Following the transfer and clearoperation, the Controller executes the Command (C) output from the SFUR.The Controller can execute the Command in response to either the CLK orFC signal. During the Command execution, the stimulus (S) data from theSFUR is input to the stimulus inputs of the core scan paths while theunmasked response (R) outputs from the core scan paths are compressedinto a signature using the Compressor. While the Command is beingexecuted, the next scan frame is shifted into the SFIR via TSI and theprevious scan frame is shifted out of the SFCR via TSO. This process ofshifting in a new scan frame from TSI, shifting out a previous scanframe from TSO, and executing a Command continues until the TE signalgoes low to end the test operation. Following the test operation, thesignature contained within the Compressor needs to be shifted out forinspection. This is accomplished by setting TE high and setting T/R forRead operation. During the read operation the Controller causes theCompressor to shift data from TSI to TSO via multiplexer 314 in responseto the CLK input to unload the signature.

The S and M sections of the SFUR 306 can be realized as either aregister 318 or a FIFO 316. If the S and M sections are registers, onlyone stimulus and mask pattern is loaded into the registers from the Sand M sections of the SFIR to be input to the core scan paths andcompressor 310, and only one response pattern from the core scan pathsis compressed in the compressor. If the S and M sections are FIFOs anumber of stimulus and mask patterns can be stored in the FIFOs from theS and M sections of the SFIR to be output to the core scan paths andcompressor, while an equal number of response patterns from the corescan path are compressed in the compressor. An S section register 318 orFIFO 316 has parallel inputs coupled to the S section of the SFIR,parallel outputs coupled to the stimulus inputs of the core scan path,and control inputs from controller. An M section register 318 or FIFO316 has parallel inputs coupled to the M section of the SFIR, paralleloutputs coupled to the mask inputs of the compressor, and control inputsfrom controller. The advantage of using S and M FIFOs is that, inresponse to a command, multiple stimulus and mask inputs, buffered up inthe FIFOs, can be rapidly input to the core scan paths and compressor,while an equal number of response outputs from the core scan paths canbe rapidly compressed into the compressor.

FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of the Controllers of the FIGS. 2 and 3TAMs when TE is high and T/R is set for test operation. The Controllerconsists of a Scan Frame state machine 400, a Shift state machine 402, aShift & Compress state machine 404, and a Shift, Load, and Compressstate machine 406. The Scan Frame state machine is clocked by the CLKinput and is used to input and output scan frames from the SFIR andSFCR, respectively, and to enable one of the Command state machines inresponse to a Command input from the SFUR. The Scan Frame state machinehas an Idle state where is resides when TE is low, a Shift SFIR & SFCRstate where is shifts scan frames in from TSI and out on TSO while theFM signal is low, a Copy, Update, & Clear SFIR state where SFIR data iscopied, updated and cleared, and an Enable Command State Machine stateto enable one of the Command state machines. The Command state machinescan be clocked by either the CLK or FC inputs. Clocking the Commandstate machines using the FC allows the core scan paths to perform testoperations at the functional clock rate, which is usually much fasterthan the CLK rate and allows better at-speed, delay, and timing closuretesting. In response to a Command of 00 (in this example) the Shiftstate machine 402 is enabled to transition from the Idle state to theShift Scan Paths state and back to the Idle state. The Shift statemachine is used to initialize the scan paths with stimulus data at thebeginning of a test operation. In response to a Command of 01 (in thisexample) the Shift & Compress state machine 404 is enabled to transitionfrom the Idle state to the Shift Scan Paths & Compress Response stateand then back to the Idle state. The Shift & Compress state machine isused to shift in stimulus data to the core scan paths from the SFUR andto compress the response outputs from the core scan paths into theCompressor. In response to a Command of 10 (in this example) the Shift,Compress & Load state machine 406 is enabled to transition from the Idlestate to the Shift Scan Paths & Compress Response state, then to theLoad Scan Paths state, and then back to the Idle state. The Shift,Compress & Load state machine is used to shift in the last stimulus datapatterns to the core scan paths from the SFUR during a current shift &compress test operation cycle, to compress the last response outputpatterns from the scan paths into the Compressor during the currentshift & compress test operation cycle, and to load the scan paths withparallel response data from combinational logic in preparation for thenext shift & compress test operation cycle. When the testing iscomplete, the TE signal is set low to cause the Scan Frame state machineto return to the Idle state.

As seen in FIG. 4, if FIFOs are used for the S and M sections of theSFURs of FIGS. 2 and 3, the Shift state machine 402 will remain in theshift scan paths state, the Shift & Compress state machine 404 willremain in the shift scan paths & compress response state, and the Shift,Compress & Load state machine 406 will remain in the shift scan paths &compress response state, as indicated by dotted line, for the number ofFC/CLK cycles required to output buffered stimulus patterns from the SFIFO to the core scan path and buffered mask patterns from the M FIFO tothe compressor.

FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of the Controllers of the FIGS. 2 and 3TAMs when TE is high and T/R is set for test operation. The Controllerconsists of a Scan Frame state machine 400, a Shift state machine 402, aShift & Compress state machine 404, and a Shift, Load, and Compressstate machine 406. The Scan Frame state machine is clocked by the CLKinput and is used to input and output scan frames from the SFIR andSFCR, respectively, and to enable one of the Command state machines inresponse to a Command input from the SFUR. The Scan Frame state machinehas an Idle state where is it resides when TE is low, a Shift SFIR &SFCR state where is it shifts scan frames in from TSI and out on TSOwhile the FM signal is low, a Copy, Update, & Clear SFIR state whereSFIR data is copied, updated and cleared, and an Enable Command StateMachine state to enable one of the Command state machines. The Commandstate machines can be clocked by either the CLK or FC inputs. Clockingthe Command state machines using the FC allows the core scan paths toperform test operations at the functional clock rate, which is usuallymuch faster than the CLK rate and allows better at-speed, delay, andtiming closure testing. In response to a Command of 00 (in this example)the Shift state machine 402 is enabled to transition from the Idle stateto the Shift Scan Paths state and back to the Idle state. The Shiftstate machine is used to initialize the scan paths with stimulus data atthe beginning of a test operation. In response to a Command of 01 (inthis example) the Shift & Compress state machine 404 is enabled totransition from the Idle state to the Shift Scan Paths & CompressResponse state and then back to the Idle state. The Shift & Compressstate machine is used to shift in stimulus data to the core scan pathsfrom the SFUR and to compress the response outputs from the core scanpaths into the Compressor. In response to a Command of 10 (in thisexample) the Shift, Compress & Load state machine 406 is enabled totransition from the Idle state to the Shift Scan Paths & CompressResponse state, then to the Load Scan Paths state, and then back to theIdle state. The Shift, Compress & Load state machine is used to shift inthe last stimulus data patterns to the core scan paths from the SFURduring a current shift & compress test operation cycle, to compress thelast response output patterns from the scan paths into the Compressorduring the current shift & compress test operation cycle, and to loadthe scan paths with parallel response data from combinational logic inpreparation for the next shift & compress test operation cycle. When thetesting is complete, the TE signal is set low to cause the Scan Framestate machine to return to the Idle state.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example circuit 500 for enabling the command statemachines of the present invention when TE is high and T/R is set fortest operation. The circuit consists of a set/reset latch 502, asynchronizer 504, and, in this example, the shift state machine 402 ofFIG. 4. When a Command 00 signal pulse is output from the Scan Framestate machine 400 the latch's Enable output goes high and is input tothe synchronizer. The synchronizer synchronizes the Enable signal witheither the FC or CLK clock signal and outputs a synchronized enable(SyncEnable) signal to the Shift state machine. In response to theSyncEnable signal, the Shift state machine transitions from the Idlestate to the Shift Scan Path state and back to the Idle state inresponse to the FC or CLK signal. Again as seen in dotted line, if FIFOsare used the Shift Scan Path state will be maintained until the FIFOsempty of data. The transition back into the Idle state produces a Resetsignal pulse that resets the set/reset latch and synchronizer to disablethe Shift state machine. The other command state machines in thispresentation can be substituted for the Shift state machine of FIG. 5.All command state machines have the SyncEnable input to enable theiroperation, the FC or CLK inputs to time their operations, and the Resetsignal output to terminate their operations upon returning back to theirIdle state. The purpose of the synchronizer is to synchronize the Enablesignal output from the set/reset latch in response to the CLK signal tothe FC signal so that the command state machines start and operatesynchronously with the FC signal. The CLK and FC are separate clocksignals. The CLK clock is a test clock provided to the device from atester. The FC clock is a functional clock that may be provided from adevice pin, an oscillator, a PLL, or other clock providing source. Ifthe command state machines are timed by the CLK signal, the synchronizermay be eliminated if desired since the CLK signal times both the ScanFrame state machine that produces the Enable signal and the starting andthe operating of command state machines. Without the synchronizer theEnable signal from the set/reset latch is input directly to the commandstate machine in place of the SyncEnable input.

FIG. 6 illustrates the operation of the Shift Compressor state machine600 of the TAM Controllers of FIGS. 2 and 3 when TE is high and T/R isset for Read operation. As seen, when the TE is high, the ShiftCompressor state machine transitions from the Idle state to the ShiftOut Compressor state. The state machine remains in the Shift OutCompressor state until TE returns low. In the Shift Out Compressor statethe controller outputs control (CTL) to cause the Compressor to shift indata from TSI and shift out data on TSO. The shift out operation unloadsthe signature contained within the Compressor following a testoperation. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, when T/R is set for Read operationmultiplexer 214 or 314 couples the serial output from the Compressor tothe TSO output of the TAM. This Shift Compressor state machine is usedby all TAMs that have Compressors.

FIG. 7A illustrates a Decompress & Compress TAM 700 that can be coupledto a core within a device to enable testing of the core according to thepresent invention. This TAM is for use with Compress-Ready Core ScanPaths 702, i.e. the response from the scan paths does not containunknown states. The TAM includes a SFIR 704, a SFCR 708, a SFUR 706, aDecompressor 716, a Compressor 710, a multiplexer 714, and a Controller712. The SFIR and SFCR both comprise a Compressed Stimulus (CS) section,a Command (C) section, and a Frame Marker (FM) section. The SFURcomprises a Compressed Stimulus (CS) section 707 and a Command (C)section. The TAM has the standardized inputs and outputs described inFIG. 2. The CS bus from the SFUR is input to the Decompressor. TheDecompressed Stimulus (DS) output from the Decompressor is input to thecore scan paths. The R bus from the core scan paths is input to theCompressor. The CTL bus from the Controller provides control for the TAMcircuits and core scan paths. When TE is set high and T/R is set forTest operation, the Controller is enabled to shift scan frames into theSFIR from TSI and shift scan frames out of the SFCR on TSO, in responseto the CLK input. When the FM signal from the SFIR goes high, theController transfers the contents of the CS and C sections of the SFIRinto the CS and C sections of the SFUR, the CS, C, and FM sections ofthe SFIR into the CS, C, and FM sections of the SFCR, and then clearsthe SFIR. Following the transfer and clear operation, the Controllerexecutes the Command (C) output from the SFUR. The Controller canexecute the Command in response to either the CLK or FC signal. Duringthe Command execution, the Decompressor 716 decompresses the CS inputand applies the Decompressed Stimulus (DS) patterns to the stimulusinputs of the core scan path while the Compressor inputs the R outputsfrom the core scan paths and compresses them into a signature. Each CSinput may provide an N number of DS patterns for input to the core scanpaths. While the Command is being executed, the next scan frame isshifted into the SFIR via TSI and the previous scan frame is shifted outof the SFCR via TSO. This process of shifting in a new scan frame fromTSI, shifting out a previous scan frame from TSO, and executing aCommand continues until the TE signal goes low to end the testoperation. Following the test operation, the signature contained withinthe Compressor needs to be shifted out for inspection. This isaccomplished by setting TE high and setting T/R for Read operation.During the read operation the Controller causes the Compressor to shiftdata from TSI to TSO in response to the CLK input to unload thesignature as described in FIG. 6.

FIG. 7B illustrates a more detailed view of the stimulus decompressionand response compression circuits of FIG. 7A. When compressed stimulusdata is updated from the SFIR 704 to the CS register section 707 of theSFUR 706, the CS register 707 and decompressor 716 circuit combination717 is enabled by control input from the controller to decompress thecompressed stimulus data in the CS register and output the decompressedstimulus data to the stimulus inputs of the core scan paths. The CSregister 707 operates as an LFSR or other pseudorandom patterngeneration circuit to produce multiple stimulus patterns from the singleCS input pattern. The decompressor 716 receives the multiple stimuluspatterns from the CS register 707 and outputs stimulus data to each scanpath. As seen, the CS and decompressor circuit combination 717 expands asmall N channel wide CS input pattern into a number of larger M channelwide stimulus output patterns for input to a large number of core scanpaths. Stimulus decompression circuits that receive a small compressedstimulus input pattern and produce a number of wide decompressedstimulus output patterns, similar to circuit 717, are known in the artas indicated in the paper listed in the Reference of Related Art.

FIG. 8A illustrates a Decompress & Maskable Compress TAM 800 that can becoupled to a core within a device to enable testing of the coreaccording to the present invention. This TAM is for use with Core ScanPaths 802 where the response output contains unknown states that need tobe masked off. The TAM includes a SFIR 804, a SFCR 808, a SFUR 806, astimulus Decompressor 816, a mask Decompressor 818, a Compressor 810, amultiplexer 814, and a Controller 812. The SFIR and SFCR both comprise aCompressed Stimulus (CS) section, a Compressed Mask (CM) section, aCommand (C) section, and a Frame Marker (FM) section. The SFUR comprisesa Compressed Stimulus (CS) section 807, a Compressed Mask (CM) section809, and a Command (C) section. The TAM has the standardized inputs andoutputs described in FIG. 2. The CS bus from the SFUR is input to thestimulus Decompressor 816. The Decompressed Stimulus (DS) output fromDecompressor 816 is input to the core scan paths. The CM bus from theSFUR is input to the mask Decompressor 818. The Decompressed Mask (DM)output from Decompressor 818 is input to the Compressor along with the Rbus from the core scan paths. The CTL bus from the Controller providescontrol for the TAM circuits and core scan paths. When TE is set highand T/R is set for Test operation, the Controller is enabled to shiftscan frames into the SFIR from TSI and shift scan frames out of the SFCRon TSO, in response to the CLK input. When the FM signal from the SFIRgoes high, the Controller transfers the contents of the CS, CM, and Csections of the SFIR into the CS, CM, and C sections of the SFUR, theCS, CM, C, and FM sections of the SFIR into the CS, CM, C, and FMsections of the SFCR, and then clears the SFIR. Following the transferand clear operation, the Controller executes the Command (C) output fromthe SFUR. The Controller can execute the Command in response to eitherthe CLK or FC signal. During the Command execution, Decompressor 816decompresses the CS input and applies the Decompressed Stimulus (DS)patterns to the stimulus inputs of the core scan path, Decompressor 818decompresses the CM input and applies the Decompressed Mask (DM)patterns to the Compressor, and the Compressor inputs the response (R)outputs from the core scan paths and compresses the unmasked responseinputs into a signature. Each CS and CM input may provide an N number ofDS and CM patterns for input to the core scan paths and Compressor,respectively. While the Command is being executed, the next scan frameis shifted into the SFIR via TSI and the previous scan frame is shiftedout of the SFCR via TSO. This process of shifting in a new scan framefrom TSI, shifting out a previous scan frame from TSO, and executing aCommand continues until the TE signal goes low to end the testoperation. Following the test operation, the signature contained withinthe Compressor needs to be shifted out for inspection. This isaccomplished by setting TE high and setting T/R for Read operation.During the read operation the Controller causes the Compressor to shiftdata from TSI to TSO in response to the CLK input to unload thesignature and described in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8B illustrates a more detailed view of the stimulus decompression,mask decompression, and response compression circuits of FIG. 8A. Whencompressed stimulus and mask data is updated from the SFIR 804 to the CS807 and CM 809 register sections of the SFUR 806, the CS register 807and decompressor 816 circuit combination 811, and the CM register 809and decompressor 818 circuit combination 813 are enabled by controlinput from the controller to decompress the compressed the stimulus andmask data in the CS and CM registers. The decompressed stimulus data isinput to the core scan paths, and the decompressed mask data is input tothe compressor 810. The CS and CM registers operate as LFSRs or otherpseudorandom pattern generation circuits to produce multiple stimulusand mask patterns from the single CS and CM input patterns. Thedecompressor 816 receives the multiple stimulus patterns from the CSregister 807 and outputs stimulus data to each scan path. Thedecompressor 818 receives the multiple mask patterns from the CMregister 809 and outputs mask data to the compressor 810. To allow formasking each response input from the scan paths, there will be one maskinput for each response input to the compressor. As seen, circuitcombinations 811 and 813 expand a small N channel wide CS and CM inputpattern into a number of larger M channel wide stimulus and mask outputpatterns for input to the core scan paths and compressor, respectively.

FIG. 8C illustrates a Decompress & Maskable Compress TAM 820 that can becoupled to a core within a device to enable testing of the coreaccording to the present invention. This TAM is for use with Core ScanPaths 802 where the response output contains unknown states that need tobe masked off. The TAM of FIG. 8C is the same the TAM of FIG. 8A withthe exceptions that; (1) the SFUR 822 contains a mask (M) FIFO 828section instead of the CM register section of FIG. 8A, (2) the SFIR 824contains an M register section instead of the CM register section ofFIG. 8A, and (3) the SFCR 826 contains an M register section instead ofthe CM register section of FIG. 8A. In FIG. 8C, the masking of theresponse outputs from the core scan paths is achieved by buffering upmask data into the M FIFO of SFUR 822 and outputting the mask data tothe compressor 810 as the decompressed stimulus data from thedecompressor is being input to the core scan paths. With the exceptionthat the FIG. 8C TAM uses buffered mask data as opposed to the FIG. 8ATAM using decompressed mask data, the test and read operations of thetwo TAMs are identical.

FIG. 9 illustrates the operation of the Controllers of the FIGS. 7A, 8A,and 8C TAMs when TE is high and T/R is set for test operation. TheController consists of a Scan Frame state machine 900, a Decompressstate machine 902, a Compress & Decompress state machine 904, and aLoad, Compress & Decompress state machine 906. The Scan Frame statemachine is clocked by the CLK input and is used to input and output scanframes from the SFIR and SFCR, respectively, and to enable one of theCommand state machines in response to a Command input from the SFUR. TheScan Frame state machine has an Idle state where is resides when TE islow, a Shift SFIR & SFCR state where it shifts scan frames in from TSIand out on TSO while the FM signal is low, a Copy, Update, & Clear SFIRstate where SFIR data is copied, updated and cleared, and an EnableCommand State Machine state to enable one of the Command state machines.The Command state machines can be clocked by either the CLK or FCinputs. In response to a Command of 00 (in this example) the Decompressstate machine 902 is enabled to transition from the Idle state to theDecompress state where it resides during the decompression of the CSinputs. After the decompression step is performed, the Decompress statemachine transitions back to the Idle state. The Decompress state machineis used to initialize the scan paths with stimulus data at the beginningof a test operation. In response to a Command of 01 (in this example)the Compress & Decompress state machine 904 is enabled to transitionfrom the Idle state to the Compress & Decompress state where it residesduring the decompression of the CS input of FIG. 7A, the decompressionof the CS and CM inputs of FIG. 8A, or the decompression of the CS inputand outputting of mask data from the M FIFO of FIG. 8C. After thecompress and decompress step is preformed, the Compress & Decompressstate machine transitions back to the Idle state. The Compress &Decompress state machine is used to decompress the CS input intostimulus data to the core scan paths, to decompress the CM input intomask data to the Compressor or to output buffered mask data from the MFIFO to the Compressor, and to compress the response outputs from thecore scan paths into the Compressor. In response to a Command of 10 (inthis example) the Compress, Decompress & Load state machine 906 isenabled to transition from the Idle state to the Compress & Decompressstate where it resides during the decompression of the CS input of FIG.7A, the decompression of the CS and CM inputs of FIG. 8A, or thedecompression of the CS input and outputting of mask data from the MFIFO of FIG. 8C. After the compress and decompress step is preformed,the Compress, Decompress & Load state machine transitions to the LoadScan Paths state to load data from combinational logic, and then back tothe Idle state. The Compress, Decompress & Load state machine is used toshift in the last decompressed stimulus to the core scan paths during acurrent compress & decompress test operation cycle, to compress the lastnon-masked response outputs from the core scan paths during the currentcompress & decompress test operation cycle, and to load response datafrom combinational logic into the core scan paths in preparation for thenext compress & decompress test operation cycle. When testing iscomplete, the TE signal is set low to cause the Scan Frame state machineto return to the Idle state.

FIG. 10 illustrates a Stimulus & Compare TAM 1000 that can be coupled toa core within a device to enable testing of the core according to thepresent invention. This TAM is for use with Compare-Ready Core ScanPaths 1002, i.e. the response from the scan paths does not containunknown states. The TAM includes a SFIR 1004, a SFCR 1008, a SFUR 1006,a Fail Logger circuit 1016, a Comparator 1010, a multiplexer 1014, and aController 1012. The SFIR and SFCR both comprise a Stimulus (S) section,a Response (R) section, a Command (C) section, and a Frame Marker (FM)section. The SFUR comprises a Stimulus (S) section, a Response (R)section, and a Command (C) section. The TAM has the standardized inputsand outputs described in FIG. 2. The S bus from the SFUR is input to thestimulus inputs of the core scan paths. The R bus from the SFUR is inputto the Comparator. The R bus from the core scan paths is input to theComparator. The Compare Outputs (CO) from the Comparator are input tothe Fail Logger. The Fail Logger outputs a Fail Output (FO) indicationsignal to the Controller in response to a failing CO input. The FOsignal may optionally be output from the TAM to immediately indicate afailure to a tester. The CTL bus from the Controller provides controlfor the TAM circuits and core scan paths. When TE is set high and T/R isset for Test operation, the Controller is enabled to shift scan framesinto the SFIR from TSI and shift scan frames out of the SFCR on TSO, inresponse to the CLK input. When the FM signal from the SFIR goes high,the Controller transfers the contents of the S, R, and C sections of theSFIR into the S, R, and C sections of the SFUR, the S, R, C, and FMsections of the SFIR into the S, R, C, and FM sections of the SFCR, andthen clears the SFIR. Following the transfer and clear operation, theController executes the Command (C) output from the SFUR. The Controllercan execute the Command in response to either the CLK or FC signal.During the Command execution, the stimulus (S) data from the SFUR isinput to the stimulus inputs of the core scan paths while the response(R) outputs from the core scan paths are compared against the response(R) inputs from the SFUR. The results of each response compare operationare input to the Fail Logger. While the Command is being executed, thenext scan frame is shifted into the SFIR via TSI and the previous scanframe is shifted out of the SFCR via TSO. This process of shifting in anew scan frame from TSI, shifting out a previous scan frame from TSO,and executing a Command continues until the TE signal goes low to endthe test operation. Following the test operation, the failure datacontained within the Fail Logger needs to be shifted out for inspection.This is accomplished by setting TE high and setting T/R for Readoperation. During the read operation the Controller causes the FailLogger to shift data from TSI to TSO in response to the CLK input tounload the fail data.

The S and R sections of the SFUR 1006 can be realized as either aregister 1020 or a FIFO 1018. If the S and R sections are registers,only one stimulus and response pattern is loaded into the registers fromthe S and R sections of the SFIR to be input to the core scan paths andcomparator 1010, and only one response pattern from the core scan pathsis compared in the comparator. If the S and R sections are FIFOs, anumber of stimulus and response patterns can be stored in the FIFOs fromthe S and R sections of the SFIR to be output to the core scan paths andcomparator, while an equal number of response patterns from the corescan path are compared in the comparator. An S section register 1020 orFIFO 1018 has parallel inputs coupled to the S section of the SFIR,parallel outputs coupled to the stimulus inputs of the core scan path,and control inputs from controller. An R section register 1020 or FIFO1018 has parallel inputs coupled to the R section of the SFIR, paralleloutputs coupled to the response inputs of the comparator, and controlinputs from controller. The advantage of using S and R FIFOs is that, inresponse to a command, multiple stimulus and response inputs, bufferedup in the FIFOs, can be rapidly input to the core scan paths andcomparator, while an equal number of response outputs from the core scanpaths can be rapidly compared in the comparator.

FIG. 11 illustrates a Stimulus & Maskable Compare TAM 1100 that can becoupled to a core within a device to enable testing of the coreaccording to the present invention. This TAM is for use with Core ScanPaths 1102 where the response output contains unknown states that needto be masked off. The TAM includes a SFIR 1104, a SFCR 1108, a SFUR1106, a Fail Logger circuit 1116, a Comparator 1110, a multiplexer 1114,and a Controller 1112. The SFIR and SFCR both comprise a Stimulus (S)section, a Mask (M) section, a Response (R) section, a Command (C)section, and a Frame Marker (FM) section. The SFUR comprises a Stimulus(S) section, a Mask (M) section, a Response (R) section, and a Command(C) section. The TAM has the standardized inputs and outputs describedin FIG. 2. The S bus from the SFUR is input to the stimulus inputs ofthe core scan paths. The M and R buses from the SFUR are input to theComparator. The R bus from the core scan paths is input to theComparator. The Compare Outputs (CO) from the Comparator are input tothe Fail Logger. The Fail Logger outputs a Fail Output (FO) indicationsignal to the Controller in response to a failing CO input. The FOsignal may optionally be output from the TAM to immediately indicate afailure to a tester. The CTL bus from the Controller provides controlfor the TAM circuits and core scan paths. When TE is set high and T/R isset for Test operation, the Controller is enabled to shift scan framesinto the SFIR from TSI and shift scan frames out of the SFCR on TSO, inresponse to the CLK input. When the FM signal from the SFIR goes high,the Controller transfers the contents of the S, M, R, and C sections ofthe SFIR into the S, M, R, and C sections of the SFUR, the S, M, R, C,and FM sections of the SFIR into the S, M, R, C, and FM sections of theSFCR, then clears the SFIR. Following the transfer and clear operation,the Controller executes the Command (C) output from the SFUR. TheController can execute the Command in response to either the CLK or FCsignal. During the Command execution, the stimulus (S) data from theSFUR is input to the stimulus inputs of the core scan paths, the mask(M) data from the SFUR is input to the comparator along with theresponse (R) outputs from the scan paths. The comparator compares theunmasked response (R) outputs from the core scan paths against theresponse (R) inputs from the SFUR. The results of each response compareoperation are input to the Fail Logger. While the Command is beingexecuted, the next scan frame is shifted into the SFIR via TSI and theprevious scan frame is shifted out of the SFCR via TSO. This process ofshifting in a new scan frame from TSI, shifting out a previous scanframe from TSO, and executing a Command continues until the TE signalgoes low to end the test operation. Following the test operation, thefailure data contained within the Fail Logger needs to be shifted outfor inspection. This is accomplished by setting TE high and setting T/Rfor Read operation. During the read operation the Controller causes theFail Logger to shift data from TSI to TSO in response to the CLK inputto unload the fail data.

The S, M, and R sections of the SFUR 1106 can be realized as either aregister 1120 or a FIFO 1118. If the S, M, and R sections are registers,only one stimulus, mask, and response pattern is loaded into theregisters from the S, M, and R sections of the SFIR to be input to thecore scan paths and comparator 1110, and only one response pattern fromthe core scan paths is compared in the comparator. If the S, M, and Rsections are FIFOs, a number of stimulus, mask, and response patternscan be stored in the FIFOs from the S, M, and R sections of the SFIR tobe output to the core scan paths and comparator, while an equal numberof response patterns from the core scan path are compared in thecomparator. An S section register 1120 or FIFO 1118 has parallel inputscoupled to the S section of the SFIR, parallel outputs coupled to thestimulus inputs of the core scan path, and control inputs fromcontroller. An M section register 1120 or FIFO 1118 has parallel inputscoupled to the M section of the SFIR, parallel outputs coupled to themask inputs of the comparator, and control inputs from controller. An Rsection register 1120 or FIFO 1118 has parallel inputs coupled to the Rsection of the SFIR, parallel outputs coupled to the response inputs ofthe comparator, and control inputs from controller. The advantage ofusing S, M, and R FIFOs is that, in response to a command, multiplestimulus, mask, and response inputs, buffered up in the FIFOs, can berapidly input to the core scan paths and comparator, while an equalnumber of response outputs from the core scan paths can be rapidlycompared in the comparator.

FIG. 12 illustrates the operation of the Controllers of the FIGS. 10 and11 TAMs when TE is high and T/R is set for test operation. TheController consists of a Scan Frame state machine 1200, a Shift statemachine 1202, a Shift & Compare state machine 1204, and a Shift, Compare& Load state machine 1206. The Scan Frame state machine is clocked bythe CLK input and is used to input and output scan frames from the SFIRand SFCR, respectively, and to enable one of the Command state machinesin response to a Command input from the SFUR. The Scan Frame statemachine has an Idle state where is resides when TE is low, a Shift SFIR& SFCR state where is shifts scan frames in from TSI and out on TSOwhile the FM signal is low, a Copy, Update, & Clear SFIR state whereSFIR data is copied, updated and cleared, and an Enable Command StateMachine state to enable one of the Command state machines. The Commandstate machines can be clocked by either the CLK or FC inputs. Inresponse to a Command of 00 (in this example) the Shift state machine1202 is enabled to transition from the Idle state to the Shift ScanPaths state and back to the Idle state. The Shift state machine is usedto initialize the scan paths with stimulus data at the beginning of atest operation. In response to a Command of 01 (in this example) theShift & Compare state machine 1204 is enabled to transition from theIdle state to the Shift Scan Paths & Compare state then back to the Idlestate. The Shift & Compare state machine is used to shift in stimulusdata to the core scan paths from the SFUR and to compare unmaskedresponse outputs from the core scan paths using the Comparator. Inresponse to a Command of 10 (in this example) the Shift, Compare & Loadstate machine 1206 is enabled to transition from the Idle state to theShift Scan Paths & Compare state, to the Load Scan Paths state, and backto the Idle state. The Shift, Compare & Load state machine is used toshift in the last stimulus data to the core scan paths during a currentshift & compare test operation cycle, to compare the last non-maskedresponse outputs from the core scan paths during the current shift &compare test operation cycle, and to load response data fromcombinational logic into the core scan paths in preparation for the nextshift & compare test operation cycle. When testing is complete, the TEsignal is set low to cause the Scan Frame state machine to return to theIdle state.

As seen in FIG. 12, if FIFOs are used for the S and R sections of theSFUR of FIG. 10 or the S, M, and R sections of the SFUR of FIG. 11, theShift state machine 1202 will remain in the shift scan paths state, theShift & Compare state machine 1204 will remain in the shift scan paths &compare response state, and the Shift, Compare & Load state machine 1206will remain in the shift scan paths & compare response state, asindicated by dotted line, for the number of FC/CLK cycles required tooutput buffered patterns from the S and R FIFOs of FIG. 10 or bufferedS, M, and R patterns from the FIFOs of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13A illustrates a Decompress & Compare TAM 1300 that can be coupledto a core within a device to enable testing of the core according to thepresent invention. This TAM is for use with Compress-Ready Core ScanPaths 1302, i.e. the response from the scan paths does not containunknown states. The TAM includes a SFIR 1304, a SFCR 1308, a SFUR 1306,a stimulus Decompressor 1316, a response Decompressor 1318, a Comparator1310, a Fail Logger 1320, a multiplexer 1314, and a Controller 1312. TheSFIR and SFCR both comprise a Compressed Stimulus (CS) section, aCompressed Response (CR) section, a Command (C) section, and a FrameMarker (FM) section. The SFUR comprises a Compressed Stimulus (CS)section, a Compressed Response (CR) section, and a Command (C) section.The TAM has the standardized inputs and outputs described in FIG. 2. TheCS bus from the SFUR is input to the stimulus Decompressor 1316.Decompressor 1316 outputs decompressed stimulus (DS) patterns to thecore scan paths. The CR bus from the SFUR is input to the responseDecompressor 1318. The Comparator inputs decompressed response (DR)patterns from the response Decompressor and response (R) patterns fromthe core scan paths. The Comparator outputs Compare Outputs (CO) to theFail Logger circuit. The Fail Logger outputs a Fail Output (FO)indication signal to the Controller in response to a failing CO input.The FO signal may optionally be output from the TAM to immediatelyindicate a failure to a tester. The CTL bus from the Controller providescontrol for the TAM circuits and core scan paths. When TE is set highand T/R is set for Test operation, the Controller is enabled to shiftscan frames into the SFIR from TSI and shift scan frames out of the SFCRon TSO, in response to the CLK input. When the FM signal from the SFIRgoes high, the Controller transfers the contents of the CS, CR, and Csections of the SFIR into the CS, CR, and C sections of the SFUR, theCS, CR, C, and FM sections of the SFIR into the CS, CR, C, and FMsections of the SFCR, and then clears the SFIR. Following the transferand clear operation, the Controller executes the Command (C) output fromthe SFUR. The Controller can execute the Command in response to eitherthe CLK or FC signal. During the Command execution, Decompressor 1316decompresses the CS input and applies the Decompressed Stimulus (DS)patterns to the stimulus inputs of the core scan path, Decompressor 1318decompresses the CR input and applies the Decompressed Response (DR)patterns to the Comparator, and the Comparator compares the DecompressedResponse inputs to the response (R) outputs from the core scan paths andoutputs Compare Output (CO) results to the Fail Logger. Each CS and CRinput may provide an N number of DS and DR patterns for input to thecore scan paths and Comparator, respectively. While the Command is beingexecuted, the next scan frame is shifted into the SFIR via TSI and theprevious scan frame is shifted out of the SFCR via TSO. This process ofshifting in a new scan frame from TSI, shifting out a previous scanframe from TSO, and executing a Command continues until the TE signalgoes low to end the test operation. Following the test operation, thefail data contained in the Fail Logger needs to be shifted out forinspection. This is accomplished by setting TE high and setting T/R forRead operation. During the read operation the Controller causes the FailLogger to shift data from TSI to TSO in response to the CLK input tounload the fail data.

FIG. 13B illustrates a more detailed view of the stimulus decompression,response decompression, and response comparator circuits of FIG. 13A.When compressed stimulus and response data is updated from the SFIR 1304to the CS 1307 and CR 1309 register sections of the SFUR 1306, the CSregister 1307 and decompressor 1316 circuit combination 1311, and the CRregister 1309 and decompressor 1318 circuit combination 1313 are enabledby control input from the controller to decompress the compressedstimulus and response data in the CS and CR registers. The decompressedstimulus data is input to the core scan paths, and the decompressedresponse data is input to the comparator 1310. The CS and CR registersoperate as LFSRs or other pseudorandom pattern generation circuits toproduce multiple stimulus and response patterns from the single CS andCR input patterns. The decompressor 1316 receives the multiple stimuluspatterns from the CS register 1307 and outputs stimulus data to eachscan path. The decompressor 1318 receives the multiple response patternsfrom the CR register 1309 and outputs response data to the comparator1310. To allow for comparing each response input from the scan paths,there will be one response input from decompressor 1318 for eachresponse input from the scan path. As seen, circuit combinations 1311and 1313 expand a small N channel wide CS and CR input pattern into anumber of larger M channel wide stimulus and response output patternsfor input to the core scan paths and comparator, respectively.

FIG. 13C illustrates a Decompress & Compare TAM 1322 that can be coupledto a core within a device to enable testing of the core according to thepresent invention. This TAM is for use with Core Scan Paths 1302 wherethe response output does not contain unknown states. The TAM of FIG. 13Cis the same the TAM of FIG. 13A with the exceptions that; (1) the SFUR1324 contains a response (R) FIFO 1330 section instead of the CRregister section of FIG. 13A, (2) the SFIR 1326 contains an R registersection instead of the CR register section of FIG. 13A, and (3) the SFCR1328 contains an R register section instead of the CR register sectionof FIG. 13A. In FIG. 13C, the comparing of the response outputs from thecore scan paths is achieved by buffering up response data into the RFIFO of SFUR 1324 and outputting the buffered response data to thecomparator 1310 as the decompressed stimulus data from the decompressoris being input to the core scan paths. With the exception that the FIG.13C TAM uses buffered response data as opposed to the FIG. 13A TAM usingdecompressed response data, the test and read operations of the two TAMsare identical.

FIG. 14A illustrates a Decompress & Maskable Compare TAM 1400 that canbe coupled to a core within a device to enable testing of the coreaccording to the present invention. This TAM is for use with Core ScanPaths 1402 where the response output contains unknown states that needto be masked off. The TAM includes a SFIR 1404, a SFCR 1408, a SFUR1406, a stimulus Decompressor 1416, a mask Decompressor 1418, a responseDecompressor 1420, a Comparator 1410, a Fail Logger 1422, a multiplexer1414, and a Controller 1412. The SFIR and SFCR both comprise aCompressed Stimulus (CS) section, a Compressed Mask (CM) section, aCompressed Response (CR) section, a Command (C) section, and a FrameMarker (FM) section. The SFUR comprises a CS section, a CM section, a CRsection, and a C section. The TAM has the standardized inputs andoutputs described in FIG. 2. The CS bus from the SFUR is input to thestimulus Decompressor 1416. Decompressor 1416 outputs decompressedstimulus (DS) patterns to the core scan paths. The CM bus from the SFURis input to the mask Decompressor 1418. The CR bus from the SFUR isinput to the response Decompressor 1420. The Comparator inputsdecompressed response patterns from Decompressor 1420, decompressed maskpatterns from Decompressor 1418, and response (R) patterns from the corescan paths. The Comparator outputs Compare Outputs (CO) to the FailLogger circuit. The Fail Logger outputs a Fail Output (FO) indicationsignal to the Controller in response to a failing CO input. The FOsignal may optionally be output from the TAM to immediately indicate afailure to a tester. The CTL bus from the Controller provides controlfor the TAM circuits and core scan paths. When TE is set high and T/R isset for Test operation, the Controller is enabled to shift scan framesinto the SFIR from TSI and shift scan frames out of the SFCR on TSO, inresponse to the CLK input. When the FM signal from the SFIR goes high,the Controller transfers the contents of the CS, CM, CR, and C sectionsof the SFIR into the CS, CM, CR, and C sections of the SFUR, the CS, CM,CR, C, and FM sections of the SFIR into the CS, CM, CR, C, and FMsections of the SFCR, then clears the SFIR. Following the transfer andclear operation, the Controller executes the Command (C) output from theSFUR. The Controller can execute the Command in response to either theCLK or FC signal. During the Command execution, the stimulusDecompressor 1416 decompresses the CS input and applies the DecompressedStimulus (DS) patterns to the stimulus inputs of the core scan path, theresponse Decompressor 1418 decompresses the CR input and applies theDecompressed Response (DR) patterns to the Comparator, the maskDecompressor 1420 decompresses the CM input and applies the DecompressedMask (DM) patterns to the Comparator, and the Comparator compares theDecompressed Response inputs to the unmasked response (R) outputs fromthe core scan paths and outputs Compare Output (CO) results to the FailLogger. Each CS, CM, and CR input may provide an N number of DS, DM, andDR patterns for input to the core scan paths and Comparator. While theCommand is being executed, the next scan frame is shifted into the SFIRvia TSI and the previous scan frame is shifted out of the SFCR via TSO.This process of shifting in a new scan frame from TSI, shifting out aprevious scan frame from TSO, and executing a Command continues untilthe TE signal goes low to end the test operation. Following the testoperation, the fail data contained in the Fail Logger needs to beshifted out for inspection. This is accomplished by setting TE high andsetting T/R for Read operation. During the read operation the Controllercauses the Fail Logger to shift data from TSI to TSO in response to theCLK input to unload the fail data.

FIG. 14B illustrates a more detailed view of the stimulus decompression,mask decompression, response decompression, and response comparatorcircuits of FIG. 14A. When compressed stimulus, mask, and response datais updated from the SFIR 1404 to the CS 1407, CM 1409, and CR 1411register sections of the SFUR 1406, the CS register 1407 anddecompressor 1416 circuit combination 11421, the CM register 1409 anddecompressor 1418, and the CR register 1411 and decompressor 1420circuit combination 1425 are enabled by control input from thecontroller to decompress the compressed stimulus, mask, and responsedata in the CS, CM, and CR registers. The decompressed stimulus data isinput to the core scan paths, the decompressed mask data is input tocomparator 1410, and the decompressed response data is input tocomparator 1410. The CS, CM, and CR registers operate as LFSRs or otherpseudorandom pattern generation circuits to produce multiple stimulus,mask, and response patterns from the single CS, CM, and CR inputpatterns. The decompressor 1416 receives the multiple stimulus patternsfrom the CS register 1407 and outputs stimulus data to each scan path.The decompressor 1418 receives the multiple mask patterns from the CMregister 1409 and outputs mask data to comparator 1410. The decompressor1420 receives the multiple response patterns from the CR register 1411and outputs response data to comparator 1410. To allow for masking orcomparing each response input from the scan paths, there will be onemask input from decompressor 1418 and one response input fromdecompressor 1420 for each response input from the scan path. As seen,circuit combinations 1421, 1423, and 1425 expand a small N channel wideCS, CM, and CR input pattern into a number of larger M channel widestimulus, mask, and response output patterns for input to the core scanpaths and comparator.

In the examples illustrated in FIGS. 7A, 8A, 13A, and 14A it is seenthat by using TAMs with CS, CM, and CR scan frame patterns, the bitlength of the TAM SFIR can be significantly reduced over the SFIR bitlength of TAMs that use C, M, and R scan frame patterns (i.e. TAMs ofFIGS. 2, 3, 10, and 11). For example, if the core 1102 of FIG. 11 had an8-bit wide stimulus input and an 8-bit wide response output, the SFIR1104 of TAM 1100 would have to have an 8-bit wide S section, an 8-bitwide M section, and an 8-bit wide R section in series with the C and FMsections. Each scan frame input to the SFIR 1104 would contain 8 bitsfor the S section, 8 bits for the M section, 8 bits for the R section,and say 3 bits for the C and FM sections, or 27 bits. If the same corewith 8 stimulus inputs and 8 response outputs was tested using the TAM1400 of FIG. 14A, and assuming the CS, CM, and CR sections of SFIR 1406required only 3 bits each, each scan frame input to the SFIR 1406 wouldcontain 3 bits for the CS section, 3 bits for the CM section, 3 bits forthe CR section, and 3 bits for the C and FM sections, or 12 bits. Forthe same CLK rate, the scan framing rate of the 12 bit SFIR 1406 of FIG.14A would be double that of the 27 bit SFIR 1104 of FIG. 11. Increasingthe scan frame rate of the SFIR decreases the time it takes to test to acore. In addition, since the TAM of FIG. 14A can apply a number ofstimulus patterns to the core and compare the same number of responsepatterns from the core during each scan frame due to the decompressioncircuits 1421, 1423, and 1425, the test time is further reduced, whichfurther reduces the cost of testing die and ICs.

FIG. 14C illustrates a Decompress & Maskable Compare TAM 1424 that canbe coupled to a core within a device to enable testing of the coreaccording to the present invention. This TAM is for use with Core ScanPaths 1402 where the response output contains unknown states. The TAM ofFIG. 14C is the same the TAM of FIG. 14A with the exceptions that; (1)the SFUR 1426 contains mask (M) and response (R) FIFO 1432 sectionsinstead of the CM and CR register sections of FIG. 14A, (2) the SFIR1428 contains M and R register sections instead of the CM and CRregister sections of FIG. 14A, and (3) the SFCR 1430 contains M and Rregister sections instead of the CM and CR register sections of FIG.14A. In FIG. 14C, the maskable comparing of the response outputs fromthe core scan paths is achieved by buffering up mask and response datainto the M and R FIFOs of SFUR 1426 and outputting the buffered mask andresponse data to the comparator 1410 as the decompressed stimulus datafrom the decompressor is being input to the core scan paths. With theexception that the FIG. 14C TAM uses buffered mask and response data asopposed to the FIG. 14A TAM using decompressed mask and response data,the test and read operations of the two TAMs are identical.

FIG. 15 illustrates the operation of the Controllers of the FIGS. 13A,13C, 14A, and 14C TAMs when TE is high and T/R is set for testoperation. The Controller consists of a Scan Frame state machine 1500, aDecompress state machine 1502, a Decompress & Compare state machine1504, and a Decompress, Compare & Load state machine 1506. The ScanFrame state machine is clocked by the CLK input and is used to input andoutput scan frames from the SFIR and SFCR, respectively, and to enableone of the Command state machines in response to a Command input fromthe SFUR. The Scan Frame state machine has an Idle state where itresides when TE is low, a Shift SFIR & SFCR state where it shifts scanframes in from TSI and out on TSO while the FM signal is low, a Copy,Update, & Clear SFIR state where SFIR data is copied, updated andcleared, and an Enable Command State Machine state to enable one of theCommand state machines. The Command state machines can be clocked byeither the CLK or FC inputs. In response to a Command of 00 (in thisexample) the Decompress state machine 1502 is enabled to transition fromthe Idle state to the Decompress state where it resides during thedecompression of the CS inputs of FIGS. 13A, 13C, 14A, and 14C. Afterthe decompression step is performed, the Decompress state machinetransitions back to the Idle state. The Decompress state machine is usedto initialize the scan paths with stimulus data at the beginning of atest operation. In response to a Command of 01 (in this example) theDecompress & Compare state machine 1504 is enabled to transition fromthe Idle state to the Decompress & Compare state where it resides duringthe decompression of the CS and CR inputs of FIG. 13A, the decompressionof the CS inputs and the outputting of buffered response data of FIG.13C, the decompression of the CS, CM and CR inputs of FIG. 14A, or thedecompression of the CS inputs and the outputting of buffered mask andresponse data of FIG. 14C. After the decompress and compare step ispreformed, the Decompress & Compare state machine transitions back tothe Idle state. In response to a Command of 10 (in this example) theDecompress, Compress & Load state machine 1506 is enabled to transitionfrom the Idle state to the decompress & compare state where it residesduring the decompression operations of FIGS. 13A and 14A or thedecompression and buffered output operations of FIGS. 13C and 14C. Afterthe decompress and compare step is preformed, the Load, Decompress &Compare state machine transitions back to the Idle state. TheDecompress, Compare & Load state machine is used to shift in the laststimulus data to the core scan paths during a current decompress andcompare test operation cycle, to compare the last non-masked responseoutputs from the core scan paths during the current decompress andcompare test operation cycle, and to load response data fromcombinational logic into the core scan paths in preparation for the nextdecompress and compare test operation cycle. When testing is complete,the TE signal is set low to cause the Scan Frame state machine to returnto the Idle state.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a Single Detect Fail Logger Circuit1600 that can be used in the TAMs of FIGS. 10, 11, 13, and 14. Thecircuit consists of a Fail Bit Register 1602, a Frame Count Register1604, a Fail Detect Gate 1606, and a Frame Counter 1608. The Fail BitRegister and Fail Detect Gate receive the Compare Outputs (CO1-N) fromthe Comparator of FIGS. 10, 11, 13, and 14. The FO output of the FailDetect Gate is output to the Controller and optionally output from theTAM for input to tester so that the tester can immediately detect when afailure occurs. An example circuit 1610 for comparing SFR1 with R1 ormasking (SFM1=1) the compare operation is shown to include a XNOR (X)and OR (O) gate. The Comparator would have one such circuit for eachSFR1-N, SFM1-N, and R1-N input. The Fail Bit Register, Frame CountRegister, and Frame Counter are controlled by the CTL bus output fromthe Controller. At the beginning of a test, the Fail Bit Register, FrameCounter and Frame Count Register will be initialized to zero. Duringtest the CTL inputs cause the Frame Counter to count up each time a scanframe occurs, i.e. when the FM goes high. For each scan frame input, theScan Frame Response (SFR1-N) is compare to the Response (R1-N) outputfrom the core scan paths. The Scan Frame Mask (SFM1-N) can be used tomask off compare operations of unknown response inputs from the corescan paths. Following each compare operation, the CO1-N outputs from theComparator are written into the Fail Bit Register. If one or more CO1-Nsignals are at a failing logic low level, the FO output from the FailDetect Gate will go low (in this example implementation). In response toa low on the FO, the Controller will write the Frame Counter value intothe Frame Count Register and cease the operation of the Fail Loggercircuit. At the end of the test, the contents of the Fail Bit Registerand Frame Count Register can be shifted out for inspection via TSI andTSO. The contents of the Fail Bit Register will indicate the failing oneof more CO1-N inputs and the Frame Count Register will indicate the scanframe where the failure occurred. For example, if CO3 and CO7 failedduring scan frame 1000 the CO3 and CO7 bits of Fail Bit Register will below and the Frame Count Register will contain a frame count of 1000. TheFail Logger circuit of FIG. 16 allows for detecting the first scan framecompare failure.

FIG. 17 illustrates the operation of the Single Detect Fail Logger Readstate machine 1700 in the TAM Controllers of FIGS. 10, 11, 13, and 14.This state machine is used to read out the contents of the Fail BitRegister and Frame Count Register of FIG. 16. As seen, when TE is highand T/R is set for Read operation the state machine transitions from theIdle state to the Shift Out Fail Data state. The state machine remainsin the Shift Out Fail Data state until TE returns low. In the Shift OutFail Data state, the Fail Bit Register and Frame Counter registers shiftfrom TSI to TSO. The shift out operation unloads the failing CO bitpattern and the failing scan frame count. As seen in FIGS. 10, 11, 13,and 14, when T/R is set for read operation a multiplexer couples theserial output from the Fail Logger circuit to the TSO output of the TAM.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of a Multiple Detect Fail Logger Circuitthat can be used in the TAMs of FIGS. 10, 11, 13, and 14. The circuitconsists of a Fail Bit Shift Register 1802, a Frame Count Shift Register1804, a Fail Detect Gate 1806, a Fail Bit FIFO 1808, a Frame Count FIFO1810, and a Frame Counter 1820. The Fail Bit FIFO and Fail Detect Gatereceive the Compare Outputs (CO1-N) from the Comparator. The FO outputof the Fail Detect Gate is output to the Controller and optionallyoutput from the TAM for input to tester so that the tester canimmediately detect when a failure occurs. The Fail Bit FIFO, Frame CountFIFO, Fail Bit Shift Register, Frame Count Shift Register, and FrameCounter are controlled by the CTL bus output from the Controller. At thebeginning of a test, the Fail Bit FIFO, Fail Bit Shift Register, FrameCount FIFO, Frame Count Shift Register, and Frame Counter areinitialized to zero. During test the CTL inputs cause the Frame Counterto count up each time a scan frame occurs, i.e. when the FM goes high.For each scan frame input, the Scan Frame Response (SFR1-N) is compareto the Response (R1-N) output from the core scan paths. The Scan FrameMask (SFM1-N) can be used to mask off compare operations of unknownresponse inputs from the core scan paths. If one of more CO1-N signalsare at a failing logic low level, the FO output from the Fail DetectGate will go low (in this example implementation). In response to a lowon the FO, the Controller will write the CO1-N pattern into the FrameBit FIFO and the Frame Counter value into the Frame Count FIFO andcontinue the test. At the end of the test, the contents of the Fail BitFIFO and Frame Count FIFO can be shifted out for inspection using theFail Bit Shift Register and Frame Count Shift Register. During eachshift out operation, a Fail Bit pattern and a Frame Count Pattern fromthe FIFOs will be loaded into the Fail Bit Shift Register and FrameCount Shift register, respectively, and shifted out via TSI and TSO.Each pattern shifted out will identify the failing one or more CO1-Nbits of each failing scan frame count pattern. The Fail Logger circuitof FIG. 18 allows for detecting multiple scan frame compare failures.

FIG. 19 illustrates the operation of the Multiple Detect Fail LoggerRead state machine 1900 in the TAM Controllers of FIGS. 10, 11, 13, and14. This state machine is used to read out the contents of the Fail BitFIFO and Frame Count FIFO of FIG. 18. As seen, when TE is high and T/Ris set for Read operation the state machine transitions from the Idlestate to the Enable Load & Shift state. When TE goes high, the statemachine transitions to the Load Fail Data state to load a failing COpattern from the Fail Bit FIFO into the Fail Bit Shift Register and toload the failing scan frame count from the Frame Count FIFO into theFrame Count Shift Register. From the Load Fail Data state the statemachine transitions to the Shift Out Fail Data state to shift out thecontents of the Fail Bit Shift Register and Frame Count Shift Register.The state machine remains in the Shift Out Fail Data state while TE ishigh. When TE goes low, the state machine transitions to the Enable Load& Shift state to prepare to load and shift out the next failing COpattern and scan frame count data from the FIFOs. This process ofloading and shifting out the FIFO data continues until all the FIFO datahave been read. When the FIFO read operation is complete, TE is set lowand T/R is set to test to cause the state machine to return to the Idlestate. As seen in FIGS. 10, 11, 13, and 14, when T/R is set for readoperation a multiplexer couples the serial output from the Fail Loggercircuit to the TSO output of the TAM.

FIG. 20 illustrates a Stimulus & Response TAM 2000 that can be coupledto a core within a device to enable testing of the core according to thepresent invention. This TAM can be use with Core Scan Paths 2002 thatoutput either known or unknown responses. The TAM includes a SFIR 2004,a response frame output register (RFOR) 2008, a SFUR 2006, a response(R) 2010 register 2016 or FIFO 2014, and a Controller 2012. The SFIRcomprises S, C, and FM sections. The SFUR comprises an S and C section.The S section of the SFUR can be a register 2016 or a FIFO 2014. The TAMhas a TSI input, a TSO output, a CLK input, a TE input, an FC input, anS output bus to the core, a R input bus from the core, and a CTL outputbus to the core. The S bus from the SFUR is input to the core scanpaths, the R bus from the core scan paths is input to the Rregister/FIFO 2010, the outputs of the R register/FIFO is input to theRFOR 2008, and the CTL bus from the Controller provides control for theTAM circuits and core scan paths. When TE is set high, the Controller isenabled to shift scan frames into the SFIR from TSI and shift scanframes out of the RFOR on TSO in response to the CLK input. When the FMsignal from the SFIR goes high, the Controller transfers the contents ofthe S and C sections of the SFIR into the S and C sections of the SFUR,the response (R) output from the R register/FIFO into the RFOR, and thenclears the SFIR. Following the transfer and clear operation, theController executes the Command (C) output from the SFUR. The Controllercan execute the Command timed by either the CLK or a Functional Clock(FC) signal. During the Command execution, the S data from the SFUR isinput to the stimulus inputs of the core scan paths while the R outputsfrom the core scan paths are input to the R register/FIFO 2010. Whilethe Command is being executed, the next scan frame is shifted into theSFIR via TSI and the response to the previous scan frame is shifted outof the RFOR via TSO. When the response bits contained in the RFOR havebeen shifted out, logic low bits (or high bits if desired) will beshifted out for the remainder of the scan frame input and outputoperation. This occurs since the shift length of the RFOR is less thanthe shift length of the SFIR. This process of shifting in a new scanframe from TSI, shifting out the response of the previous scan frame onTSO, and executing a Command continues until the TE signal goes low toend the test operation. Since this TAM provides the response back to thetester during each scan frame shift operation via the RFOR, there is noneed for a Read operation. Thus the T/R input is not required for thisTAM. However, all the other standardized TAM interface signals aremaintained.

FIG. 21 illustrates the operation of the Controllers of the FIG. 20 TAMwhen TE is high. The Controller consists of a Scan Frame state machine2100, a Shift state machine 2102, a Launch on Shift (LOS) state machine2104, and a Launch on Capture (LOC) state machine 2106. LOS is a termcommonly used when delay, at-speed, or timing closure testing of thecombinational logic is performed by capturing (i.e. loading) theresponse output from the combinational logic into the scan path as soonas possible (i.e. next clock edge) following the last stimulus input tothe combinational logic from the scan path. LOC is a term commonly usedwhen delay, at-speed, or timing closure testing of the combinationallogic is performed by capturing (i.e. loading) the response output fromthe combinational logic into the scan path as soon as possible (i.e.next clock edge) following a back-to-back response capture operationfrom the combinational logic into the scan path. It is important to notethat the command state machines of 406 of FIG. 4, 906 of FIG. 9, 1206 ofFIG. 12, 1506 of FIGS. 15, and 2106 have all been defined to perform LOStype delay, at-speed, and timing closure test operations oncombinational logic by the scan framing approach of the presentinvention.

The Scan Frame state machine 2100 is clocked by the CLK input and isused to input scan frames to the SFIR, output response scan frames fromthe RFOR, and to enable one of the Command state machines in response toa Command input from the SFUR. The Scan Frame state machine has an Idlestate where it resides when TE is low, a Shift SFIR & RFOR state whereit shifts scan frames in from TSI and out on TSO while the FM signal islow, a Load RFOR & Update & Clear SFIR state where response data fromthe R register/FIFO 2010 is loaded into the RFOR 2008, the SFIR data isupdated into the SFUR, and the SFIR is cleared, and an Enable CommandState Machine state to enable one of the Command state machines. TheCommand state machines can be clocked by either the CLK or FC inputs. Inresponse to a Command of 00 (in this example) the Shift state machine2102 is enabled to transition from the Idle state to the Shift ScanPaths state then back to the Idle state. During the Shift Scan Pathsstate, the stimulus (S) data from the SFUR's S register 2016 or FIFO2014 is input to the core scan paths and the response (R) data from thescan paths is input to the R 2010 register 2016 or FIFO 2014. Inresponse to a Command of 01 (in this example) the LOS state machine 2104is enabled to transition from the Idle state to the Shift Scan Pathsstate, to the Load Scan Paths state, and back to the Idle state. Duringthe Shift Scan Paths state, the stimulus (S) data from the SFUR'Sregister/FIFO is input to the core scan paths and the response (R) datafrom the core scan paths is input to the R register/FIFO 2010. Duringthe Load Scan Path state, the scan paths load response data fromcombinational logic. The LOS state machine enables the response datafrom combinational logic to be captured immediately after the scan pathsshift in the last stimulus data that fills the scan paths. In responseto a Command of 10 (in this example) the LOC state machine 2106 isenabled to transition from the Idle state to the Shift Scan Paths state,to a first Load Scan Paths state, to a second Load Scan Paths state, andback to the Idle state. During the Shift Scan Paths state, the stimulus(S) data from the SFUR's S register/FIFO is input to the core scan pathsand the response (R) data from the core scan paths is input to the Rregister/FIFO 2010. During the first Load Scan Paths state, the scanpaths load response data from combinational logic in response to thestimulus data shifted into the scan paths. During the second Load ScanPaths state, the scan paths load response data from the combinationallogic in response to the response data captured into the scan pathsduring the first Load Scan Paths state. The LOC state machine enablesresponse data from combinational logic to be captured following thefirst load scan path operation and then again during the second loadscan paths operation. When testing is complete, the TE signal is set lowto cause the Scan Frame state machine 2100 to return to the Idle state.

As seen in FIG. 21, if FIFOs 2014 are used for the S section of the SFURand the TAM's R section 2010, the Shift state machine 2102 will remainin the shift scan paths state, the LOS state machine 2104 will remain inthe shift scan paths state, and the LOC state machine 2106 will remainin the shift scan paths state, as indicated by dotted line, for thenumber of FC/CLK cycles required to output a number of buffered stimuluspatterns from the S FIFO section of the SFUR and to input an equalnumber of response patterns from the core scan paths to the R FIFO 2010section.

The following examples in FIGS. 22 and 23 illustrate how the Scan FrameBased TAMs of this application can be used to test individual die onwafer, or to test strings of die on wafer. While the figures representdie on wafer being tested individually or in strings, it should beunderstood that FIGS. 22 and 23 could represent packaged or un-packagedICs on a carrier or other substrate being tested individually or instrings as well. The term “device” will be used in the followingdescription to indicate both die on wafer and ICs on a carrier or othersubstrate.

FIG. 22 illustrates a tester 2200 contacting N individual die/ICs(devices) 2202-2208 on a wafer/substrate 2210. The tester has a dataoutput (O), a data input (I), and a control (C) output(s) for eachdevice. Each device has a data input (I) coupled to the tester's dataoutput (O), a data output (O) coupled to the tester's data input (I),and control (C) input(s) coupled to the tester's control (C) output(s).The I input of each device is coupled to a TSI input of a TAM within thedevice, the O output of is coupled a TSO output of a TAM within thedevice, and the C inputs of each device controls the TE, T/R, and CLKinputs of a TAM within the device. As seen in TAM example 2212, when T/Ris set for a TAM Test operation, the tester inputs scan frames to theTAM's SFIR via the I input, outputs copied scan frames from the TAM'sSFCR via the O output, and inputs control to the TAMs controller via theC input. The copied scan frame data output to the tester from SFCR isnot required for testing, but it does allow the tester to verify thatthe correct scan frame data was input to the SFIR. Each die on wafercould be tested simultaneously by the tester having an I, O, and Cinterface for each die. Also as seen in TAM example 2214, when T/R isset for a TAM Read operation, the tester inputs data to the TAMsCompressor or Fail Logger via the I input, outputs data from the TAM'sCompressor or Fail Logger via the O output, and inputs control to theTAMs controller via the C input. As previously mentioned the Readoperation allows the tester to inspect the signature in the Compressorand the fail data in the Fail Logger following a test operation. TAMexample 2216 illustrates how the TAM of FIG. 20 would receive input (I)from the tester and transmit output (O) to the tester via the SFIR andRFOR, respectively, when the TAM's TE input is set for test operation.The one exception to the above described test operation is the testoperation of TAM 2000 of FIG. 20. As previously described in FIG. 20,TAM 2000 outputs response frames on the O output of the device insteadof copied scan frames. While the contacted die of FIG. 22 are shown asbeing die in a row on the wafer, the contacted die could be die randomlydistributed around the wafer as well.

FIG. 23 illustrates a tester 2300 contacting a String of N devices2302-2308 on a wafer 2310. The tester has a data output (O), a datainput (I), and a control (C) output(s) for each device. Each device hasa data input (I), a data output (O), and control (C) input(s). The datainput (I) of the first device 2302 of the string is coupled to the dataoutput (O) from the tester and the data output (O) output of the lastdevice 2308 in the string is coupled to the data input (I) to thetester. Devices existing between the first and last devices of a stringare serially connected such that a leading device data output (O) isconnected to the data input (I) of a trailing device. Each device in thestring is connected to the control input (C) from the tester. The Iinput of each device in the string is coupled to the TSI input of adevice TAM, the O output is coupled to the TSO output of a device TAM,and the C input controls each device TAM's TE, T/R, and CLK inputs. Asseen in the example device TAM string arrangement 2312, when T/R is setfor a TAM Test operation, the tester inputs a first scan frame to a TAMSFIR of the first device 2302. The TAM of the first device copies thefirst scan frame into its SFCR and outputs the copied scan frame to aTAM SFIR of the second device. The SFIR of the TAM of the second deviceinputs the scan frame, copies the first scan frame into its SFCR, thenoutputs the copied scan frame to a TAM SFIR of the third device. Thisscan frame input, copy, and output process repeats until eventually thelast device 2308 in the string inputs the first scan frame from the nextto last device in the string. The second and subsequent scan frames fromthe tester are similarly input, copied and output from the first devicein the string to all trailing devices in the string according to theabove described scan frame relaying technique. As each device isoutputting the copied scan frame to a trailing device, it is alsoinputting the next scan frame and performing a test using the copiedscan frame. For example, as the second device is receiving the firstscan frame from the first device, the first device is inputting thesecond scan frame while simultaneously executing a test using the firstscan frame. At the beginning of a test operation, i.e. before the firstscan frame is copied from the SCIR into the SFCR, the first scan frameoutput from each device's SFCR will be an all zero scan frame. Initiallyoutputting an all zero scan frame keeps trailing devices from respondingto the initial scan frame output from a leading device. Using this scanframing technique, the testing of the first device of the string willcomplete first, then the testing of the second device of the string,then the testing of the third device of the string, and so on. The lastdevice in the string will be the last device to complete its test. Whenthe first device completes its test, the tester will start inputtingscan frames with no-operation commands, as mentioned in regard to FIG.4. The no-operation commands have the effect of holding devices thathave completed their tests in a quiet, low power mode while otherdevices in the string are completing their test. The advantage oftesting strings of devices as seen in FIG. 23 rather than testingindividual devices as seen in FIG. 22 is that the number of contactsbetween the tester and devices under test is reduced. For example,individual device testing requires the tester to receive the output (O)from each device being tested, whereas device string testing onlyrequires the tester to receive the output (O) of the last device in adevice string. As seen in the example device TAM string arrangement2314, when T/R is set for a TAM Read operation, the tester seriallyaccesses the TAM string via the serial I and O path to extract eachTAM's Compressor signature or the Fail Logger fail data following a testoperation. The TAM Read operations were described previously in regardto FIGS. 6, 17, and 19. While the die string of FIG. 23 is shown asbeing die in a column on the wafer, the string of die could consist ofdie randomly distributed around the wafer as well. The TAM of FIG. 20 isnot suitable for use in the TAM stringing approach of FIG. 23, sinceeach FIG. 20 TAM needs to output the contents of its RFOR 2008 directlyto the tester during each scan frame input and output operation.

As can be seen in FIGS. 22 and 23, it is possible to simply bring adevice TAM's TSI, CLK, T/R, TE, and TSO signals out of the device forinterfacing to a tester such that the tester's I output drives TSI, thetester's C outputs drive CLK, T/R, and TE, and the tester's 0 inputreceives TSO. However, if the device contains more that one TAM, eachTAM's TSI, CLK, T/R, TE and TSO would have to be somehow connected tothe tester interface during each TAMs test or read operation modes. Thisconnecting could be achieved by bringing out each TAM test interfacedirectly to the tester or by providing multiplexer circuitry in thedevice to switch each TAM's test interface onto a common test interfaceto the tester. Either of these TAM access approaches requires additionaltest interface contacts between the device and tester. To limit thenumber of test interface contacts between the device and tester each dieor IC may be provided with a test port that allows any number of TAMswithin the device to be selected, tested, and read using only a minimumnumber of test interface contacts.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example model of a TAM Port 2400 that could beused for interfacing multiple TAMs 2402 within a device 2406 to anexternal tester 2404. The TAM Port consists of an external low voltagedifferential signal (LVDS) input 2408 for inputting instructions anddata to the TAM Port Interface Controller 2414 and for inputting scanframes to a selected TAM 2402, an external LVDS output 2410 foroutputting data from the TAM Port Interface Controller and scan framesfrom a selected TAM 2402, and an external LVDS control input forcontrolling the TAM Port Interface Controller and TAM Ports. The TAMPort has an internal TSI output for inputting scan frames to a selectedTAM, a internal T/R output for placing the selected TAM in Test or Readmode, an internal CLK output for clocking the selected TAM, an internalControl Bus (CB) for selecting a TAM for Test or Read operation, and aninternal TSO for inputting scan frames from a selected TAM. As seen, theTSI and TSO signals may be pipelined if desired. The TAM port'scontroller 2414 receives input from the tester to output control on theCB that enables the interface circuit 2416 to enable and connect one ofthe TAMs 2402 to the TSI, T/R, CLK, and TSO signals of the TAM port.After enabling and connecting a TAM, the tester begins inputting andoutputting scan frame to the TAM as previously described. While theexternal input, control, and output signals could use non-differentialsignaling (i.e. single ended), the LVDS signaling provides improvedinput and output framing bandwidth between the tester and TAMs.

FIG. 25 illustrates in more detail the interface 2416 between the TAMPort of FIG. 24 and a set of selectable TAMs 2402, each TAM beingcoupled to scan paths within cores 2502-2506 as previously described.Each TAM has the standardized CLK, T/R, TSI, TE inputs and TSO output.In response to external input from the tester, the TAM Port sets thecontrol bus (CB) to enable one of the TAMs via TE1-N, to select the TAMfor testing or reading via the T/R output, and to couple the selectedTAM's TSO output to the TSO input of the TAM Port via multiplexer 2508.After enabling and selecting the TAM, the TAM Port enables its CLKoutput to time the scan frame input and output operation of the TAM.During test, scan frames input on the external Input of the TAM Port areinput to the TSI input of the selected TAM and scan frames from the TSOoutput of the selected TAM are output the external TAM Port Output. Oncestarted the scan framing input and output operation continuesuninterrupted until the TAM test is completed. Following the testoperation, the TAM Port receives external input from the tester toswitch the T/R output to Read operation. In response to the T/R beingset to Read operation, the selected TAM shifts out the results of thetest from the Compressor or Fail Logger on the external output to thetester. This TAM selection, test and read process is repeated for eachTAM in the device. As seen, each TAM may have a FO signal. If desiredthe FO signal may be output to the tester by an additional output fromthe device. Outputting the FO signal allows a tester to immediatelydetect when a compare failure occurred.

FIG. 26 is provided to illustrate how the TAM port of FIG. 24 could becoupled to the input (I), control (C), and output (O) signals of atester to allow the individual die testing arrangement described inregard to FIG. 22.

FIG. 27 is provided to illustrate how the TAM port of FIG. 24 could becoupled to the input (I), control (C), and output (O) signals of atester to allow the die string testing arrangement described in regardto FIG. 23.

FIG. 28 illustrates TAM Port 2802 where the TAM Port InterfaceController 2414 of FIG. 24 is implemented using an IEEE 1149.1 TAParchitecture and interface. The TAM Port has a TDI input, a TMS input,an optional TRST input, a TCK input, and a TDO output. The TAM PortInterface Controller consist of a TAP state machine 2804, an instructionregister (IR) 2806, data registers (DR) 2808, and clock gating 2810Multiplexer 2416 is controlled by the TAP to select either the output ofthe IR or a DR to drive the TDO output. Multiplexer 2418 is controlledby the IR to select the output of a DR or the TSO output from a TAM tobe input to multiplexer 2416. While the TAM Port Interface Controllermay be realized in many different ways, the TAP based implementation ofFIG. 28 is one preferred realization. In response to TMS and TCK inputto the TAP 2804, the instruction register (IR) 2806 or data register(s)(DR) 2808 may be serially accessed via TDI and TDO. As seen, the T/Routput and CB output may be set by scanning data into a DR 2808.Alternately the T/R and CB outputs may be set by scanning an instructioninto the IR 2806, as seen by dotted line. Whether the T/R and CB outputscome from a DR or IR is by design choice. Once the T/R and CB outputshave been setup, an instruction is scanned into the IR to set the clockEnable signal output high. The TAP then transitions to the Shift-DRstate where it remains during the selected TAM test or read operation.While in the Shift-DR state, the TAP sets the Shift-DR state signaloutput high. With the clock Enable and Shift-DR state signal both sethigh, the Clock Gating circuit 2810 passes the TCK input to the CLKoutput of the TAM Port to time the selected TAM's test or readoperation. During test operation, scan frames input on the TAM Port'sTDI are input to the TAM via the TSI output, and scan frames output fromthe TAM's TSO output are output on the TAM Port's TDO output. This scanframing input and output operation continues uninterrupted at the TCKrate while the TAP is in the Shift-DR state. Note that during testoperation, TAM 2000 of FIG. 20 will output response data from RFOR 2008on TDO instead of scan frames. At the end of test, the TAP transitionsfrom the Shift-DR state which sets the Shift-DR state signal output lowand gates off the CLK output to the TAM. Following the test operation, aTAP scan operation is performed to set the T/R output to Read operation.After the T/R output is set to Read operation, the TAP loads aninstruction to again set the clock Enable output high, then transitionsinto the Shift-DR state to enable TCK to drive the CLK output. Inresponse to T/R being set to Read operation and with the CLK outputactive, the selected TAM shifts out the results of the test from theCompressor or Fail Logger on TDO. This selection, test and read processis repeated for each TAM in the device. As indicated in FIG. 28, LVDSsignaling is used on the TAM Port's TDI, TMS, TCK, and TDO terminals.Using LVDS signaling increases the data framing bandwidth between thetester and TAM Port 2802 to 400 Mbps or higher. Alternately, singleended signaling could be used on the TDI, TMS, TCK, and TDO terminals ifa lower data framing bandwidth between the tester and TAP Port isacceptable.

FIG. 29 illustrates the interface between a TAM Port of FIG. 28 and aset of selectable TAMs within a device. This interface is the same asdescribed in FIG. 25 with the exception that the TAM Port of FIG. 28 isused instead of the TAM Port of FIG. 24.

The TAM Port of FIG. 28 can be used to perform test and read operationsof individual die/ICs as shown and described in regard to FIGS. 22 and26, and to perform test and read operations of die/IC strings as shownand described in regard to FIGS. 23 and 27. The input (I) of the devicesof FIGS. 22, 23, 26, and 27 will be the TDI input to TAM Port 2802, thecontrol (C) inputs of the devices of FIGS. 22, 23, 26, and 27 will bethe TMS, TCK and optional TRST inputs to TAM Port 2802, and the output(O) of the devices of FIGS. 22, 23, 26, and 27 will be the TDO output ofTAM Port 2802.

FIG. 30 illustrates a circuit 3000 for reducing the number of interfacesignals to the TAM Port of FIG. 28 from 4 or 5 to only 3. The 3 signalsinclude a data input (DI) 3002, a clock input (CLK) 3004, and a dataoutput (DO) 3006. This type of signal reducing circuit is shown anddescribed in FIG. 22A of a pending U.S. patent Ser. No. 11/370,017(TI-60187), which is incorporated herein by reference. The onlydifference between the previously described circuit of FIG. 22A of thepending patent and the one of FIG. 30 is that the circuit of FIG. 30uses LVDS signaling on the DI, CLK, and DO signals of FIG. 30, insteadof single ended signals OUT, CLK, and TDO of the pending patent's FIG.22A. Again, LVDS signaling is used to increase the data framingbandwidth between the tester and device. The reduction in interfacesignals is achieved by sending the TDI and TMS signals in two bitpackets over the DI signal 3002. The two bit packets are converted backinto individual TDI and TMS signals using serial to parallel registercircuitry 3008. As seen in the timing diagram 3010, the CLK 3004 rate isdouble the TCK rate to allow the signal reducer circuit 3000 to receivethe serial two bit packets and convert them into separate TDI and TMSsignals. A connected TAM Port 2802 operates using the TDI, TMS, TCK,TRST, and TDO signals at one half the CLK rate.

FIG. 31 illustrates the signal reducer circuit 3000 of FIG. 30 coupledto the TAM Port 2802 of FIG. 28.

FIG. 32 illustrates the signal reducer circuit 3000 of FIG. 30 and TAMPort 2802 of FIG. 28 interfaced to a set of selectable TAMs 2402 withina device. This interface is the same as described in FIG. 29 with theexception that a signal reducer circuit 3000 is used as the externalinterface to the TAM Port 2802.

The signal reducer 3000 and TAM Port 2802 of FIG. 32 can only be used toperform test and read operations on individual die/ICs as shown anddescribed in regard to FIGS. 22 and 26. It cannot be used to performtest and read operations of die/IC strings as shown and described inregard to FIGS. 23 and 27. The reason it cannot test and read die/ICstrings is that the DI input rate is double the DO output rate, as canbe seen in the timing diagram 3010 of FIG. 30. Therefore it is notpossible to serially connect the die/ICs into strings and relay dataframes to each die/IC in the string as was described earlier in regardFIGS. 23 and 27. The input (I) of the devices of FIGS. 22 and 26 will bethe DI input to the signal reducer 3000, the control (C) inputs of thedevices of FIGS. 22 and 26 will be the CLK input of the signal reducer3000, and the output (O) of the devices of FIGS. 22 and 26 will be theDO output of the signal reducer 3000.

Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention are describedabove, this does not limit the scope of the present invention, which canbe practiced in a variety of embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. An integrated circuit comprising; A. corecircuitry having scan paths, the scan paths including scan data inputleads, scan data output leads, and scan control input leads; and B. atest access mechanism having: i. a serial data input lead, ii. a serialdata output lead, iii. parallel data output leads coupled to the to thescan data input leads, iv. parallel data input leads coupled to the scandata output leads, v. control output leads coupled to the scan controlinput leads, vi. a clock signal input; vii. a functional clock signalinput; viii. a test/read input, ix. a test access mechanism enableinput, x. a scan frame input register having a scan frame input leadconnected with the serial data input lead, the scan frame input registerincluding a compressed stimulus section having data output leads, acommand section, and a frame marker section connected in series with theserial data input lead, xi. a scan frame copy register having an outputcoupled with the serial data output lead, the scan frame copy registerbeing coupled to the compressed stimulus section, the command section,and the frame marker section of the scan frame input register, and xii.compressed stimulus register and decompressor circuitry having inputscoupled with the data output leads of the of the compressed stimulussection and parallel outputs coupled with the parallel data outputleads.
 2. The integrated circuit of claim 1 including a controllercoupled with the clock signal input, the test/read input, the testaccess mechanism enable input, and the control output leads.
 3. Theintegrated circuit of claim 1 in which the test access mechanismincludes a scan frame update register having that includes thecompressed stimulus register.
 4. The integrated circuit of claim 1 inwhich the test access mechanism includes compressor circuitry having aserial input coupled with the serial data input lead, a serial outputcoupled with the serial data output lead, and parallel inputs coupledwith the parallel data input leads.